The Value of Knowing Your Connections

Deuteronomy 26 commands the people to come before the Lord with the firstfruits of their harvest and declare before the priest in the Temple that all they are is because of God and the people before them. They are to recite and know that their life is a blessing from God alone. With him, they would still be wandering. Look at the phrase:

Deuteronomy 26:5–11 (ESV) “And you shall make response before the LORD your God, ‘A wandering Aramean was my father. And he went down into Egypt and sojourned there, few in number, and there he became a nation, great, mighty, and populous. 6 And the Egyptians treated us harshly and humiliated us and laid on us hard labor. 7 Then we cried to the LORD, the God of our fathers, and the LORD heard our voice and saw our affliction, our toil, and our oppression. 8 And the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, with great deeds of terror, with signs and wonders. 9 And he brought us into this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey. 10 And behold, now I bring the first of the fruit of the ground, which you, O LORD, have given me.’ And you shall set it down before the LORD your God and worship before the LORD your God. 11 And you shall rejoice in all the good that the LORD your God has given to you and to your house, you, and the Levite, and the sojourner who is among you.

There are really important themes in the above prescribed recitation. 

First, the people are to declare that they come from hopelessness to fullness by God's grace. They are to remember the harshness of that land, the toil and hard labor and zero rewards. They are to remember that God heard their cries and saved them with powerful deeds and signs. They are to remember that the land they harvest is from Him. These important remembrances were meant to instill an attitude of humble gratefulness for all that God had done for them. 

How important it is for God's people to remember and recite the work of God for their redemption. At no point is the Israeli worshipper to think he's made it or accomplished this harvest simply by his own efforts. A powerful reminder that speaks to our hearts is laid before us. 

Christian, we go back to the table of remembrance of Christ's shed blood and broken body for our sins. We are all that we are because of that work. We remember that He saved us and made us His own. All that we have is because of His work in us. 

Second, the people are to remember their ancestral connections. Jacob - the wandering Aramean who was brought down to Egypt was 70 persons in total. They came out a great number, mighty and populous. Generational choices and obedience yielded blessing to the nation of Israel, not isolated acts of valor on the part of one person with cunning business or agricultural sense. What an important lesson to be reminded of. All that the worshipper carried into the house of God was a blessing through the generations of his ancestry. 

We badly need to remember this as well today. We suffer from what C. S. Lewis called Chronological Snobbery. We think that because we have technology and Google we know more and we know better than all who came before us. Not so! Without the faithfulness of previous generations of Christians, none of us would be here. Without the advancements of Christians in the fields of scientific discovery, you would not be reading this. YES, Christians invented science. We have to remind ourselves of this reality so that we remain faithful for the upcoming generation. All that we are and have is due to God's work through people we may have never met. You are NOT an island.

Mind you, this statement in Deuteronomy was to precede the giving of tithes in the storehouse (see the rest of Deuteronomy 26). How often I see Christians not tithing and not giving. It is a sham of the Christian experience. You are enjoying the benefits of God's work toward you without contributing to His work on behalf of others. This must NEVER BE!

We are a long chain of believers built upon one another through the grace of God. Let us be thankful for those who came before us and then generous toward those who come after us.